Gomathi Marimuthu to win first Gold for India in the Asian Athletics Championship

Guwahati: Gomathi Marimuthu of Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu won India's first gold medal in the women's 800 m race at the Asian Athletics Championship on Monday.

Gomathi clocked a personal best time of 2 minutes 02.70 seconds in the half-mile event to win a surprise gold for India.

Gomathi who is the daughter of a farmer began professionally running when she was 20 and it's been ten long years of intense struggle. Gomathi is the name on the lips of all major sports media publications in the county although she had started her career much later than many elite athletes.

Her friend Shruthi first inspired her to take her natural talent to the next level and until then, for a student of Holy Cross College in Tiruchirappalli it was all about getting a job and supporting her family as Gomathi was the only one among the three children of the family to attend college.

India's medal tally stood at 1 gold, 3 silver and 5 Bronze. Sprinter Dutee Chand also smashed her own national record in the 100m dash for the second time in two days. The first Indian medal has won by Gayakwad on the second day who clocked 57.22 seconds to finish the third in women's 400m hurdles behind Vietnam's Quach The Lan with 56.10 and Bahrain's Aminat Yusuf Jamal with 56.39 seconds.

Yusuf's male counterpart Jabir then added a bronze by running the third fastest men's 400 m hurdles by an Indian as he clocked a personal best of 49.13 seconds.